The corrosion of steel has long been an important problem, causing losses in excess of 100 billion dollars annually world wide..sup.1 Various methods have been devised to combat corrosion, including chrome treatment of steel surfaces, pickling inhibitors, sacrificial zinc layers, etc..sup.2 In practice, almost all methods of corrosion protection work in one of the following ways: (i) cathodic protection, i.e., charge (e.sup.-) is donated to the steel from a sacrificial material, (ii) anodic protection, i.e., charge is withdrawn from the steel, or (iii) the steel surface is sealed off from corrosive attacks by a surface layer of another material, commonly a metal oxide.
Efforts are presently underway to develop methods of corrosion protection of steel that are more effective and also more environmentally friendly than the present techniques. Among the more frequently studied polymers used for corrosion protection of steel is polyaniline and its derivatives..sup.1,3-8 Although the initial work of DeBerry.sup.4 studied electrochemically deposited polyaniline, later studies.sup.1,3,5-8 concentrated on solution deposited polyaniline. Polyaniline has been proven to have corrosion protecting capabilities both when doped and neutral..sup.1,3-8
The present invention provides an improvement to the use of emeraldine base polyaniline and its derivatives for providing an anodic coating to ferrous metals giving better performance, including greater resistance to corrosion, and greater throwing power.
In view of the present disclosure, or through practice of the present invention, benefits and the solution to problems in prior art methods and materials, may become apparent.